


Rocket Raccoon- Surrogate Teddy Bear

by Skellyagogo



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Female reader insert, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:48:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28211139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skellyagogo/pseuds/Skellyagogo
Kudos: 12





	Rocket Raccoon- Surrogate Teddy Bear

One would think that the vacuum of space entailed silence, but they'd be wrong. Rocket was awoken from an uneasy slumber, his ears picking up on a muffled sound that carried from the cockpit. Laying in his bunk staring at the metal grating on his ceiling listening, the genetic enhancements he'd been given working their wonder. It didn't take long for the tiny smile to curl up on his mouth hearing her voice.

Slipping out of his room and through the hallway, hearing his shipmates snoring in their sleep as he passed their doors. Silently climbing up the ladder as her humming grew louder. Hiding out of sight watching, listening. Despite his agitated demeanor and snide comments since she'd joined them, he didn't mind her one bit.

She was sassy and took no one's shit. Didn't let Quill get away with his usual bullshit. Y/n called him on it every chance she got. She didn't put up with Drax's nonsense either. For a Teran, she wasn't half bad. She laughed at his jokes, well his attempts at them anyway. Y/n wasn't like the others cracking jokes about what he was, calling him names like Trash Panda or rodent. She didn't try to scratch behind his ears or tickle his whiskers. Didn't run or scream the first time she'd seen him, in fact, she smiled at him.

Rocket followed the movement of her hand, flipping on the auto-pilot. Found himself smirking as she flopped her legs over the armrest of the chair and leaned back in the seat. Her bare feet and painted toes had him shaking his head silently laughing. Tapping out a rhythm on her thigh as she stared into the murky skies outside the windshield. He was waiting for it, he knew it was coming. What she always did when she thought no one was around.

'I wasn't raised in a castle

I grew up on the outskirts of town

No dresses with golden tassels

The rings on my hand are handed down

But I'm gonna find the one that needs me, sees me

And treats me like I'm already royalty

There ain't nothing priceless on my wrist

I might not fly private, but that don't mean I ain't a Queen'

The sound of her voice, the weight of those words. Each syllable was drawn out with meaning deep from within. The way she bobbed her head as she sang, the hint of a smile that danced on her mouth. Rocket felt like the air had been sucked from his lungs and couldn't breathe, just like each time the tender sound of her voice touched his ears.

'Queens don't hate, Queens don't fight

Queens don't stay unless their King treats her right, oh

Every jewel on my crown, you better believe I earned it

Won't keep people around that don't believe I deserve it

No, Queens ain't fake

A Queen's gonna rule just the way she was made, oh

I ain't 'bout to let nobody come and take me off this throne

Some girls might, but Queens don't'

He was struggling to stay quiet. Dealing with all this confusion rattling inside him. He didn't understand what the heavy feeling was that settled itself in his chest. Couldn't fathom what was wrong with his heart and why it pounded so hard when she was near. There were times when he looked at her, caught her smiling so delicately that he felt weightless as if he were floating. Squiggling, fluttering type feelings danced deep within his stomach each time he heard her laugh. It happened so often he was convinced he picked up a parasite because he just couldn't understand what it all meant.

~~~~~~

Docked on a faraway planet, refueling and resupplying. The others except Y/n had decided to grab a few drinks. Rocket had been the only one to notice she'd been off the past few days. The masked smile and the haunted eyes. The laughter that sounded just the tiniest bit off. Y/n hadn't even snapped back at Quill when he commented on the dark circles under her eyes, she just pushed past him in silence.

He didn't feel right being out at the bar while Y/n was alone. Rocket left the bar ignoring the questions of the others and headed back to the ship. He was just inside the cargo bay when he saw the chaos. The entirety of the cargo bay was tossed and thrown aside. Drawers pulled out and emptied, cabinet doors opened, boxes tipped on their sides with the contents spilled over the floor.

The place was a mess and it set his senses on edge. His blaster in hand as he swept from room to room, all the same as the cargo bay. Ears perked up hearing her distress, the panicked sobbing from her room. Y/n sat in the middle of her floor surrounded by her belongings, her room destroyed just like the others.

"Y/n, what the hell happened?"

"I can't find it!"

The hoarseness in her voice, the grit, and determination. Her clothing disheveled and her hair a mess. Tear stains trailed paths down her cheeks. Her hands were bruised, nails cracked and bloodied. All Rocket could do was watch as she attempted to pry one of the metal grates up from the floor.

"Can't find what?" He inched closer to her.

"I know Quill took it! That rat bastard stole it from my room!"

"You're probably right about that sweetheart, but I can't help you unless you tell me what's missing."

"Oh, like you don't know?" Y/n grumbled annoyed throwing herself on her bunk. "Quill did it, I know it."

"Is this..." glancing around the room flabbergasted. "Is this about that dirty animal thing you sleep with?"

"Fucking hell! You know about that?" Covering her face with her hands she fell back exhausted and ashamed.

Y/n, like most women from Earth, had a teddy bear from her youth tucked away in her quarters. Unlike most, it was the last thing she had left from her life on Earth. The last link she had to a lost childhood and memories that seemed to slip away a little more each passing year. Despite thinking that no one knew she slept with it at night, they knew. It was the security that kept her nightmares at bay.

Y/n was convinced Quill had taken it as a joke or a punishment, just Peter being a typical little shit like he was. No one would have been the wiser knowing the loss of it would cause a panic attack or lack of sleep. Quill couldn't have known that Y/n would have torn the ship apart in search of it.

"I know it's childish and stupid and you probably think less of me, but..." sniffling back tears, Y/n sat up with waterfalls cascading down her face. "I can't sleep without it."

Rocket had never seen her like that, hell, he'd never seen anyone in that state before. Her whole body was shaking, buzzing, and vibrating with nerves. Y/n's normally confident stature now shrinking in on itself. Red rimmed eyes flooded with tears.

He felt guilty for all those times he laughed behind her back after catching the sight of her asleep with that mangy little animal tucked against her chest. The first time Rocket had witnessed it, he thought she was a few screws short of normal because of it. A stupid ratty little teddy bear, but Y/n clung to it like it was her reason for breathing.

"It's all I have left of my parents. When everything gets crazy and overwhelming... it was just something to remind me of them. That even in the vast expanse of things, I'm just a tiny blip that could disappear in an instant."

Rocket didn't know what to say, if there was even anything to say at all. He'd never had a family, not before Groot and the rest of the Guardians. There weren't any memories of what he was before he was an experiment. No clue if there was a family somewhere out there that missed his absence. The idea of a family out there that cried and reacted as Y/n had over that bear when he disappeared gutted him.

He felt sick to his stomach, empty and hollow. His throat seized and dried, unable to make a sound as he watched her curl into a ball on her side as she lay in her bunk. There were 'feelings' as Quill had called them coursing through him. An urge to comfort her as foreign as that emotion was to him, he wanted to try.

Without a word, he dropped his belt on the floor and hopped up on her bed. Y/n sniffling, scrunching her eyes staring at him confused as he settled himself in front of her. Moving her arms out his way and pulling them around like he'd seen her holding that bear.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know, now shut up and go with it." He tried to sound annoyed by it, but the crack in his voice as he spoke made her laugh.

Rocket grumbled as if he hated it, but he never realized how incredible being held like that felt. Squished in close to her chest, her arms wrapped around him. His whiskers twitched as his nose inhaled her heavenly scent. He liked this more than he thought. Letting his guard down, his paws resting on her arm. Stroking softly feeling her relax, her breathing slowed.

"Thank you," Y/n whispered. Her body had stilled, the tears had dried. "I know it's just a mangy dirty little bear, but it's..."

"Y/n," Rocket mumbled awkwardly, resting his paw atop her hand. "We'll find it, but until then... if you... I mean... if you want... I could ... uh... you know to do this in place of the bear." He coughed nervously.

"What?" A surprising softness in her voice.

"You know, I wouldn't mind being like this again. It's uh, kinda nice."

"You've never cuddled before have you?" Though he couldn't see, Y/n was smiling.

"That's what this is?!" Shaking his head with a gruff laugh. "No, no, I've never. Not like I have the opportunity."

"I don't want to make uncomfortable Rocket."

Turning his head offering a smile, he wiped a stray new tear away.

"If this is cuddling, I think I'd like to try some more. You know just to... know if it sucks or not."

Snuggling closer, both of them chuckling softly. Laying in silence, not a noise but the sound of beating hearts and muffled sleepy breaths. It didn't take long before slumber claimed both of them. A night of deep, heavy sleep that both direly needed for some time, not even the sound of Quill screaming about his ship woke them up.

~~~~~

Y/n had spent the better part of the next day cleaning the mess she'd caused throughout the ship. Earbuds in, music blaring so she could ignore the comments from Quill, but he wasn't the only one she was trying to avoid.

Waking up with Rocket that morning had been... strange. They were both in the exact spots they were when they'd fallen asleep. Avoided eye contact and rambling words were thrown together as Rocket slipped out of her room.

It was one thing when the ship had been empty and it was just the two of them, but now that the others were there and awake. Staring at Rocket and questioning what happened to the ship. How quickly he grumbled incoherently and scampered down to the cargo bay to find something to work on to clear his head.

The tension and curiosity only got worse when Y/n made her way to the gally to grab a bite to eat. Y/n still wearing the clothes from the day before, the puffy eyes and messy hair. Mantas so close to touching her, sending Y/n backing away scowling.

"You have until the end of the day to put it back in my room or I'll gut you in your sleep and push your body out the airlock!" Y/n turned all that confusion of what Rocket had done for her the night before into rage towards Quill.

"Don't know what you're talkin' about," Quill smirked. Y/n glared daggers his way before turning on her heels to clean her mess.

Y/n exhausted and hating herself for the extensive mess she'd created. Flopping tiredly on her bed, the sound of metal clinking on her wall caught her attention. Right beside her pillow sat her bear. He looked like he had been given a bath, it's matted ancient fur appeared almost new. Atop his head sat a little crown. Repurposed wires twisted and coiled into intricate designs adorned with multi-colored fuses as if they were jewels.

Grinning Y/n knew only one person could have created it. Tucking the bear away for safekeeping. Letting out a light laugh at the thought of it. Gruff and cranky Rocket putting together something so delicate as a crown. Brought out of her thoughts by a knock, turning to see Rocket leaning in the door frame.

"You find your bear yet?" His gaze flickering towards the spot near her pillow. A flash of confusion passed over his eyes.

"Uh no," Y/n sighed shaking her head sitting on her bed. "Guess I have to shove Quill out the airlock now. Good thing you're a pilot, huh?"

"I'm the best pilot there is sweetheart," Rocket chuckled taking a seat beside her. "You sure you didn't find it?"

"Nope, maybe Quill's too afraid to admit he stole it." Shrugging her shoulders with a half-smile, her eye line darting across the room towards the cupboard it was hidden in.

"That's too bad, you uh... I mean... you gonna be okay to sleep tonight?"

"Don't know," Y/n sighed trying not to smile.

"Tell ya what, how about I uh, stay the night again... just until you fall asleep that is."

Rocket turned his head hoping to keep her from seeing the glint in his eyes. Trying to hide his smile as he fidgeted.

"I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable or ruin your image ya know."

"Just stow it and move over." Rolling his eyes smirking as she complied, biting back her own smirk.

Situated the same as the night before. Laying on their sides, Rocket tucked behind her arms. His head under her chin. Closing his eyes letting out a heavy sigh as she pulled the blanket around them. The same comfortable silence filling the room, the same familiar drumbeat thumping between them.

Glancing across her room, Rocket saw a furry paw poking out from behind a partially opened cupboard door. Grinning to himself, fighting back the urge to laugh.

"Night Rocket," Y/n yawned.

"Night sweetheart." Smiling like a fool, he could definitely get used to this cuddling thing.


End file.
